Book: The Birthday of the World
Jun. 1st, 2003 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Ursula K Le Guin
Details: (c) Ursula K Le Guin 2002. More stuff on Le Guin's official website (which is pretty, but not very well organized).
Verdict: The Birthday of the World is extremely disappointing. It has its moments but most of it is utter trash.
Reasons for reading it: Cos I'm stupid, and I didn't listen to any of the people who told me that Le Guin isn't any good these days. I refused to believe that she is physically capable of writing anything less than wonderful. Also because the stupid faculty insisted I spend two days last week listening to talks 90% of which had no possible interest or relevance for me, so I smuggled a book in. [Oh dear, just typoed snuggled for smuggled]
How it came into my hands: The library. I'm really very impressed with the central library, for having such a good selection of recent stuff, and quite diverse too.
Detailed review Rant:
Almost all the stories in this collection are baaaaaaad and the rest are mediocre. Pretty much all the stories are essentially fanfic set in her various worlds. The kind of fanfic that evokes the reaction, well, that wasn't a bad description of a sex scene, but it would have been better if they'd read the original properly. The first story in the collection, Coming of age in Karhide is the worst; it's set in the Left hand of Darkness world, and not only is it a trashy story about a kid going through puberty and discovering sex, with absolutely no point, the really interestingly portrayed Gethenians (who acquire gender only when they're in heat) have turned into absolutely stock porn androgynes; you lose all the sense of otherness that makes LHoD so special.
The final two stories, the title story and Paradises lost are not quite so bad; the former is the story of the fall of the Inca empire told from the Inca point of view, and the latter a description of the interim generations of an interstellar voyage. Both have some cute ideas but are nothing like what I expect from Le Guin; Paradises lost in particular reads like an early draft of what might eventually have become a good story.
I've not hidden this rant behind a cut tag, because I want to join my voice to the chorus saying, don't bother with Le Guin's recent stuff. And most particularly, don't read this book.
Details: (c) Ursula K Le Guin 2002. More stuff on Le Guin's official website (which is pretty, but not very well organized).
Verdict: The Birthday of the World is extremely disappointing. It has its moments but most of it is utter trash.
Reasons for reading it: Cos I'm stupid, and I didn't listen to any of the people who told me that Le Guin isn't any good these days. I refused to believe that she is physically capable of writing anything less than wonderful. Also because the stupid faculty insisted I spend two days last week listening to talks 90% of which had no possible interest or relevance for me, so I smuggled a book in. [Oh dear, just typoed snuggled for smuggled]
How it came into my hands: The library. I'm really very impressed with the central library, for having such a good selection of recent stuff, and quite diverse too.
Almost all the stories in this collection are baaaaaaad and the rest are mediocre. Pretty much all the stories are essentially fanfic set in her various worlds. The kind of fanfic that evokes the reaction, well, that wasn't a bad description of a sex scene, but it would have been better if they'd read the original properly. The first story in the collection, Coming of age in Karhide is the worst; it's set in the Left hand of Darkness world, and not only is it a trashy story about a kid going through puberty and discovering sex, with absolutely no point, the really interestingly portrayed Gethenians (who acquire gender only when they're in heat) have turned into absolutely stock porn androgynes; you lose all the sense of otherness that makes LHoD so special.
The final two stories, the title story and Paradises lost are not quite so bad; the former is the story of the fall of the Inca empire told from the Inca point of view, and the latter a description of the interim generations of an interstellar voyage. Both have some cute ideas but are nothing like what I expect from Le Guin; Paradises lost in particular reads like an early draft of what might eventually have become a good story.
I've not hidden this rant behind a cut tag, because I want to join my voice to the chorus saying, don't bother with Le Guin's recent stuff. And most particularly, don't read this book.
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Oh dear...
Date: 2003-06-02 11:47 am (UTC)In fact, I was actually planning to re-read LHOD as my next novel. Last time I read it I was ill with glandular fever, so I don't think I really appreciated it as well as I might have. A few books I read at that time (which was a lot, because I was off sick for nearly three months) on rereading seem like completely different novels. I should make an LJ post about my feelings about it second time around really.
My tastes do change over the years. I wasn't that old when I first read the Douglas Adams Hitchhikers series -- I loved it, thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever encountered. On rereading part of the first novel a few weeks ago I found the whole thing rather trite and shallow. I don't think the novel changed -- it was me.
It's interesting that you reviewed Howards End recently. I'd been trying to remember its title for the last few weeks -- a friend lent it to me when I was at ChCh. I remember hating it at the time. I just didn't get anything out of it. Yet, when I picked up the Gutenberg link you posted and read the first chapter or so, it seemed like a different novel.
So, yes. I've changed. I seems that I can't trust the aesthetic opinion of earlier versions of myself. Its quite odd to think in this way, but I'm rather more inclined to seek out some literature I've previously not gotten away with in order to give it a second try.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-06-07 10:49 am (UTC)Cool. Actually I didn't manage to read it until very recently, though I'd been planning to for ages. I mentioned this to M and the first time he came to visit he brought a copy to lend me :-) I liked it a lot, though it was slow to get moving. It manages to get the balance between presenting aliens as other and still human enough to be interesting.
Last time I read it I was ill with glandular fever,
Yes, I tend to have a strange response to books I read when I'm ill.
My tastes do change over the years.
I very rarely reread anything, except a handful of real old favourites. And most of those stay my favourites, if I bother rereading them at all it's usually because I adored them in the first place. There are some things, like The Book of Ebenezer le Page, that I found touchingly romantic when I first read them as a teenager, but now find impossibly soppy, but good books in spite of that flaw.
It's interesting that you reviewed Howards End recently.
This is heartening. I'm keeping this journal / booklog mainly for my own benefit but it's still pleasing if people are actually reading my reviews :-)
So, yes. I've changed. I seems that I can't trust the aesthetic opinion of earlier versions of myself.
Well, but opinion is opinion. I trust the opinions of lots of my friends, even though sometimes I find myself disagreeing with them. I suppose that by keeping this booklog I might be able to look back in years to come and remind myself how I reacted to books when I read them for the first time (or reread them at the age I am now).
Its quite odd to think in this way, but I'm rather more inclined to seek out some literature I've previously not gotten away with in order to give it a second try.
I vacillate between thinking, there are so many books out there that I do enjoy, why should I waste time rereading the tiny minority of books that I didn't enjoy the first time round, and general stubbornness, being determined to reread bad books until I get something out of them. I think the first attitude is probably more sensible, on the whole, but if lots of people are recommending me something, the second may win.